The Source of Dominance
This position is so instinctual because dogs begin learning it almost from birth as the new litter jockeys for position while nursing with the mother. The more dominant dogs will get more milk while the submissive dogs will learn to wait. Since this first struggle for position deals with food and the possible difference between life and death, it is very primal and makes a big impact.
There are three positions in the pack. Their traditional designations, especially when describing a wolf pack, are alpha, beta, and omega. There is usually one alpha couple, a male and a female, that lead the whole pack. They have a number of betas subservient to them, with the omegas subservient to everyone else.
Cesar describes these positions as being at the front, middle, or rear of the pack.
The Pack Leaders, naturally, are in the front. Their job is to protect and direct the entire pack. The omega dogs are at the rear, and their job is to alert the pack to danger. The dogs in the middle of the pack are there to mediate between the front and rear.
Identifying the Leader of the Dog Pack
Itβs easy to spot the leader and the omega, because theyβll let you know. The leader will show it in her body language and interactions with other dogs. This is the dog that other dogs approach in the park, and not the other way around. The omega dogs will also let you know, because they will show submission to every dog and every person.
The middle of the pack dogs are trickier to spot because they have their own hierarchy of dominance and submission, and that can even change among them if theyβre all at about the same level. So, one day a dog in the middle that seems dominant to most of the other dogs may suddenly be submissive to some of them or to different dogs than usual.
We mentioned before that a dogβs pack position doesnβt change. This behavior isnβt a contradiction because these dogs are still betas. They just negotiate dominance amongst themselves while staying at the same rank.